Gaining perspective into the term 'safety culture'; how emergency nurses view its meaning in their everyday practice: a focus group study in an Australian setting

Abstract

Background: The creation of the safety culture coordinator role within an Australian Local Health District followed a critical incident in one of its emergency departments. As part of the role, it was important to have an understanding of how nurses viewed the term safety culture in order to support them in implementing any changes that would influence their everyday practice.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative design was chosen for the study. Focus groups allowed the perspectives of nurses to be heard and represented.

Results: Five themes emerged from the data: defining safety culture, influences of team culture, differences in environmental impact, the reality of reporting incidents and commitment to best practice and patient care. These highlighted the influencing factors that promoted and inhibited a safety culture.

Conclusion: This study provides a greater understanding of what supports a positive safety culture and the challenges that nurses face. Across the three emergency departments, nurses had similar beliefs about safety culture, with a consensus that safety was everyone's responsibility. This has enabled the safety culture coordinator position to have greater consideration of what initiatives are valued and important in working with nurses to design strategies that influence their safety culture.

Keywords: Culture (MeSH D003469); Emergency department (MeSH D004636); Focus group (MeSH D017144); Nurses (MeSH D009726); Safety (MeSH D012449).